Wormery

Mrs_Domino

I have made my wormery and have been composting down some bedding and kitchen scraps for a couple of weeks now.

I ordered my worms yesterday so they should arrive tomorrow :j but the question is can I keep them alive?

Has anyone got any hints, tips, experiences that would be helpful. I've googled as much as I can but any nuggets??

Thanks

mrbadexample

No help, but interested to see how you get on, Mrs D.

jetbag

I have a wormery.
My first attempt I managed to kill all the worms:eek:
So I started again just over a year ago and they are still alive and breeding in there so they must be happy this time.:j

They do not like anything citrus or onions. start off very slowly feeding only a little bit every few days, also give them shredded paper & cardboard, they don't like it too wet.

They do not like to be too hot or too cold so mine live in the garage most of the time. they will also eat through old wool jumpers (not manmade fibres) and cotton t-shirts, a friend of mine gives her DH's old (clean) underpants to her worms.:rotfl:

wiggly wigglers website is really good for info they even have short video clips online to watch.

valk_scot

I have had mixed sucess with wormeries. Aim for moderation in all things but enough of everything iyswim? I do know that if the worms are trying to climb out when you leave the lid off for five minutes to feed them then this means they're unimpressed with the accomodation and want to move out.

Mrs_Domino

mrbadexample wrote: »

No help, but interested to see how you get on, Mrs D.

Will keep you posted.

Thanks Jet & Val. I have a mix of paper, food and weeds in there at the moment which i cut up really small and left for a couple of weeks. I got the little wrigglers this morning and have put them at the bottom with everything on top. Covered the layers with cardboard and put the lid on.

I guess I leave them for a couple of weeks to settle in. From your replies I may have to take some things out.

Do you monitor yours everyday, once a week/month?

jetbag

I check on mine once or twice a week and just put a little bit of food on the top for them only when most of their previous food has been eaten.

valk_scot

If they're just out in the garden, check on them once every couple of days at first. Very little and more often is better than one big feed once a week.

angelavdavis

I have had my wormery for 15 years - never had to restock and they have moved house with me!

I leave the tap open on mine to stop it flooding in the rain (its outside) and put a 4 Ltr empty milk carton underneath it to catch any "worm juice" which I use for feeding plants.

I put cooked leftovers in that the chickens don't eat - in particular, the worms love bread. Also my chickens don't like strawberries but the worms love these too, so between them, they do quite well.

In winter time, I top up the top container with coir compost and cover the top with old carpet to protect them.

Having said that, last winter, we got caught out by an early cold snap and the lid blew off during snow storm - I discovered the wormery with 4 inches of snow on top! I thought I had lost the lot but they were huddled up in the bottom layer protected!

jetbag

I am still learning too so thanks for all your comments, I hope to keep mine safely for many years.

Mrs_Domino

Thanks for your replies. I have taken quite a lot of the stuff out of there now. Just properly looked at the stuff i took out and can see some very baby maggots, mostly on the banana. First lesson, limit bananas. How do i avoid maggots?!

Little and often, that will be my mantra

bordercars

http://www.recycleworks.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=f16550e655e16fa9a3f2bb38583d4ad4